Stadium wants $6 million more

State, Northampton County each would pay half, owner says.

April 03, 2001|By SCOTT KRAUS Of The Morning Call

The head of the nonprofit agency that owns the unfinished Lehigh Valley Stadium in Williams Township said Monday that Northampton County intends to help pay to complete the ballpark if the state chips in an additional $3 million.

"I've got to move a $3 million capital budget item through the capital budget process [in Harrisburg]," said Joseph Rocks, chairman and chief executive officer of Northwestern Human Services. "The county has an intent to match that. I don't have them signed to any commitment."

The state has committed $5 million to the project, to be administered by the Northampton County Industrial Development Authority, and Rocks, a former state senator, said he is fairly confident he can get an additional $3 million placed in the state's 2001 capital budget.

Rocks, who said he has been in regular phone contact with Northampton County Executive Glenn Reibman, said the infusion of an additional $6 million to the project would help make minor league baseball a reality at the park by April 2002.

Reibman administration officials would not confirm a financial commitment from the county.

Vince Dominach, director of community and economic development, said the county has expressed a willingness to do anything it takes to get the ballpark completed and occupied by a minor league team.

But he stopped short of saying the county has promised to contribute money.

"The only thing the county committed to was the county would do anything it could to help them have their goal of getting baseball in there as soon as possible," Dominach said.

When asked if the money could be included in the reconfigured bond issue Reibman plans to introduce to County Council later this month, Dominach said he could not speculate.

"There has been mentioned, Joe [Rocks] has talked, that the state would appreciate it if the county put money in, but right now we don't have any way to get new money," Dominach said. "We haven't made any decision on what we would do with any of the bond money."

When contacted initially, Rocks said, "The county has already committed to put up some money for completion of the stadium." But he clarified in a subsequent interview that there was no formal commitment, only a statement of intent.

Work on the Lehigh Valley Stadium stopped in July 1999 over financial problems. The Black Diamonds' owner, the Lehigh Valley Professional Sports Clubs, led by Thomas X. Flaherty, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Feb. 1, 2000, and fought off attempts by the Atlantic League to assign the franchise to a new buyer.

Last week, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Diane W. Sigmund issued a preliminary bench order placing the Black Diamonds' creditors in charge of liquidating the team's assets in order to pay their debts.

The creditors' plan seeks to withdraw the Black Diamonds' membership in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball Clubs and hold the league liable for the team's debts.

Not surprisingly, Atlantic League officials oppose that plan, but they have said they will operate the Black Diamonds this year, with the team playing all of its games on the road.

The unfinished stadium, which is owned by Northwestern Human Services of Lafayette Hill, Montgomery County, is without a developer. Craig Stein, owner of the Reading Phillies minor league team, has suggested the project is unworkable unless the state increases its $5 million contribution.

Rocks said he has been negotiating with Stein to bring an affiliated Class A or AA minor league baseball team to the stadium and has reached out to the Atlantic League about placing an unaffiliated team, under new owners, at the stadium.

When Sigmund enters her order confirming the creditors' plan for liquidating the Black Diamonds, it will help clear the way for a deal, Rocks said.

He said his goal is to live up to Northwestern's commitment to bring minor league baseball to the Lehigh Valley and to unload the stadium, which doesn't fit with the agency's core business of providing mental health services.

"If it is Stein, and some form of affiliated baseball, we will probably add a developer to this," said Rocks. "My goal at the end is I don't want to own a baseball stadium."